The 2025 Ross Sea shelf survey was successfully carried out, the fourteenth in the series. It contributed to the time series of information collected on the Ross Sea. Results from the 2025 survey indicated strong recruitment of Antarctic toothfish coming into the fishery. The time series of relative abundance and age structure in Antarctic toothfish from the Ross Sea shelf survey provides information about year class strength, variability, and autocorrelation, and hence is an important input into the Ross Sea region toothfish stock assessment.
In addition to providing an index of recruitment strength, this survey series provides an opportunity for targeted data collection to better understand the life cycle and ecosystem role of Antarctic toothfish and other components of the Ross Sea shelf ecosystem. The continuation of this survey allows for the collection of a wide range of data and samples from these areas, which is a high priority research topic in the research and monitoring plan for the Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area. Further research carried out whilst onboard has included survivability of tagged fish, bycatch projects and diet studies among others.
This report includes feedback from the 2025 Working Group on Statistics, Assessments and Modelling.